An S at Le Mans !
Discussion
Got talking to a guy at the Neil Garner open day, Henri Plomb-Pied, and he told me an amazing but little known tale of how TVR so nearly had not one but a team of three S's entered at the 1990 Le Mans.
Henri ran a small race car business, Equipe Vitesse De Vessie, and they were chosen back in 1989 because of their local knowledge and experience in endurance racing to initially develop and build a single car and when all was sorted a team of three would be put together.
The plan was to keep them looking as standard as possible and they would be painted, patriotically, red white and blue (a strange choice because everyone knows the green ones are fastest). Some changes however had to be made, some of these later became standard production modifications. Longer doors to make driver changes easier and additional driving lamps set low at the front of the bonnet (essential for night racing). Whilst looking reasonably standard they were fitted with some very "trick" 24 valve V6's supplied by Ford,who were by now taking a bit of interest. These engines had been developed for the next round of those epic Capri / BMW Touring car battles but Ford ceased production of the Capri and they became "spare". A rather large bulge had to be moulded into the bonnet to clear the triple Webers, this bulge later slipped to one side to become the V8s bonnet. One other "mod" that didn't make it into production was a rear anti-roll bar, this gave the car far superior handling.
All was going rather quite well with the prototype car when. all of a sudden, everything stopped. Some say a certain German sports car manufacturer feared a trouncing like Ford gave Ferrari in the'60s and invoked some obscure rules to get the car banned. Another theory was that good old Henri who liked the ladies as much as the fast cars was getting a little too friendly with one of the senior organisers wife!
Sadly no pictures are known to exist of the car (development was supposed to be secret) but somehow this photo of the rear anti-roll bar installation did "sneak out"...........
Henri ran a small race car business, Equipe Vitesse De Vessie, and they were chosen back in 1989 because of their local knowledge and experience in endurance racing to initially develop and build a single car and when all was sorted a team of three would be put together.
The plan was to keep them looking as standard as possible and they would be painted, patriotically, red white and blue (a strange choice because everyone knows the green ones are fastest). Some changes however had to be made, some of these later became standard production modifications. Longer doors to make driver changes easier and additional driving lamps set low at the front of the bonnet (essential for night racing). Whilst looking reasonably standard they were fitted with some very "trick" 24 valve V6's supplied by Ford,who were by now taking a bit of interest. These engines had been developed for the next round of those epic Capri / BMW Touring car battles but Ford ceased production of the Capri and they became "spare". A rather large bulge had to be moulded into the bonnet to clear the triple Webers, this bulge later slipped to one side to become the V8s bonnet. One other "mod" that didn't make it into production was a rear anti-roll bar, this gave the car far superior handling.
All was going rather quite well with the prototype car when. all of a sudden, everything stopped. Some say a certain German sports car manufacturer feared a trouncing like Ford gave Ferrari in the'60s and invoked some obscure rules to get the car banned. Another theory was that good old Henri who liked the ladies as much as the fast cars was getting a little too friendly with one of the senior organisers wife!
Sadly no pictures are known to exist of the car (development was supposed to be secret) but somehow this photo of the rear anti-roll bar installation did "sneak out"...........
Edited by phillpot on Monday 1st April 08:09
Great stuff Phillpot, I well remember the famous ( in France ) Henri Plombe-Pied or "Leadfoot" as he was known to his fellow racers. Some say he later went on to work for Top Gear and became something of a cult figure. All I know is, he wasn't as fast around Spa as that green S last May. 
Happy Easter Everyone!
Happy Easter Everyone!
.. 
Dave_M said:
So, would a rear anti-roll bar be a good mod? Is it possible?
Anything is possible young Grasshopper. ( Sorry Dave! )There are at least two out there that I know of. See photos above earlier.
What about the Tuscan Challenge racers? Are those fitted with rear ARB's?
Would definitely improve handling of any S.
Edited by glenrobbo on Monday 1st April 14:08
not so sure Team BladderSpeed came out so well
Alan's effort does look well engineered (along with everything else on his car) mine on the other hand is more "after market bolt on" (almost)!
Up-rating those mountings onto trailing arms shouldn't be a big problem if required (there are already strengthening plates behind that the bolts screw into)
Hi All
The trailing arms won't bend where the mounts are, I spoke to Penske re the shock valving and we had a discussion on the fitting of a rear sway bar, I sort of had an idea of what I wanted to do but had no idea what to use.
I decided where it was going to go, so I just needed a bar that would fit the space and be the right length, went through e-bay but nothing stood out as being suitable.
I found a breaker yard with a rack full of hundreds of bars, I got a piece of 6 mm steel bad and bent the shape that would fit between tor diff rear and the frame, down to the beakers yard with my bent piece of steel and after an hour or so I found one that was almost a perfect match for my template, £20 later I was on my way home, it was an almost perfect fit only needing to get the links ( new ones 1" longer that the ones on the bar)
Its from a 1978/9 Porsche Carrera, made up some mounts and a new set of bushes job done for less than £90.
The bolts are 12 mm high tensile bolts and it is fitted same as on the Porsche, I think they will be ok.
Alan
Alan
The trailing arms won't bend where the mounts are, I spoke to Penske re the shock valving and we had a discussion on the fitting of a rear sway bar, I sort of had an idea of what I wanted to do but had no idea what to use.
I decided where it was going to go, so I just needed a bar that would fit the space and be the right length, went through e-bay but nothing stood out as being suitable.
I found a breaker yard with a rack full of hundreds of bars, I got a piece of 6 mm steel bad and bent the shape that would fit between tor diff rear and the frame, down to the beakers yard with my bent piece of steel and after an hour or so I found one that was almost a perfect match for my template, £20 later I was on my way home, it was an almost perfect fit only needing to get the links ( new ones 1" longer that the ones on the bar)
Its from a 1978/9 Porsche Carrera, made up some mounts and a new set of bushes job done for less than £90.
The bolts are 12 mm high tensile bolts and it is fitted same as on the Porsche, I think they will be ok.
Alan
Alan
Edited by Alan Whitaker on Monday 1st April 20:31
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